Fun With Art: Learn how to draw and paint

By Helen Webster

If you wish you knew a bit more about making fantastic arty things then look no further! Fun With Art will show you the basics of drawing and painting as well as brilliant new techniques, such as how to paint using tissue paper and how to use crayons to create a brilliant underwater effect. It's a jam-packed, easy-to-follow guide that will show you how to really have fun with art.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcturus Publishing
• Release date: Aug 27, 2020
• ISBN: 9781398801066

Book preview

Introduction

If you sometimes wish you knew a bit more about drawing, painting or making fantastic arty things then this is the book for you! Covering things like mixing colours, drawing in perspective and using materials together, you’ll be shown all the basics you need to make brilliant finished artworks. Below are some of the materials you will need to make the projects in this book. You might find you have quite a few of them at home without even realising it!

You’ll learn how to use everyday art materials in totally new ways, such as how to get a soft swirly effect from felt-tip pens and how to use crayons to create a brilliant underwater effect. There’s inspiration for making gifts, greeting cards and other things with the personal touch. It’s a jam-packed, easy-to-follow guide that will show you how to really have fun with art!

Tips and Tricks

How to draw the easy way

To start off, we’re going to show you an easy way to draw by using building blocks. We’re going to demonstrate with animals.

Draw each step shown and see how you ‘build’ the shapes. Notice how it’s not until stage 4 or 5 that they look like different animals!

You will need:

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See how the detail is added in step 3. You then have two animal options – a mouse or a rabbit!

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Will it be a pig or a reindeer? You decide!

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How to draw using the playdough technique

Another way to draw animals is called the ‘playdough technique’ and it’s very easy. Again, we’re going to show you with animals. Every animal starts off as two balls of playdough stuck on top of each other.

You will need:

To demonstrate, we’ll show you two ways to draw a dog – either standing on two legs, or on all fours. First let’s look at a dog standing on two legs:

1. Draw two ‘playdough’ balls on top of each other.

2. Draw two feet at the bottom of your figure. They look like little paddles.

3. Now add the arms and ears. You’ll notice that they are exactly the same shape.

4. Draw an upside down triangle for a nose and a pointy tail between the arm and leg.

5. It’s up to you to add your own fur markings and the expression on the face.

Now let’s look at the dog on all fours:

1. Again, draw your two doughballs, this time side by side.

2. Draw the same two paddles at the bottom of the body.

3. Add another pair of legs and some ears.

4. The curved tail goes in the top left-hand corner.

5. Again, add any final touches you like and you have yourself a brilliant, tail-wagging dog!

How to draw an object from an angle

So far we’ve been drawing objects from the side or face on. But what about drawing an object from an angle? Let’s take a big tractor. We’ll show you how to draw it from an interesting angle.

You will need:

1. Draw three circles to make the wheels. Look